BCS commissioners set timeline for playoff discussions

Tuesday's meeting in Dallas between the 11 conference commissioners that make up the Bowl Championship Series, along with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, was focused on what the college football postseason will look like beginning in 2014 when the current BCS contract ends.

Here's the statement the commissioners released today.

"In an effort to grow college football's great popularity and success, we just completed two days of productive meetings in Dallas, Texas.

We have until the fall of this year to finalize any possible changes to our current structure. That's when contractual obligations require us to begin negotiations with our television carrier for future coverage decisions. We have a self-imposed deadline of sometime this summer to decide what changes we will propose to our governing bodies for football's post-season. It's still early in our process and we will continue to meet with our conferences and review options.

Whatever we do, we want to protect college football's regular season which is the best and most meaningful in sports. We want to preserve the great bowl tradition while making it better and more attractive. We also have heard the message about playing bowl games closer to or on January 1, the way it used to be.

As we proceed, we will evaluate the many pros and cons of numerous possible changes. Every idea has exciting up sides, as well as complicated consequences. From the realities of the calendar to the issues presented in terms of venues such as who hosts games, we have tremendous responsibilities and opportunities.

The bottom line is we will continue to talk about how to make a great sport even better for student-athletes, fans and everyone who loves college football."